考博英語論文

01
The
Language
of
Music
A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a
work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great
responsibilities, for the composer is utterly dependent on them. A student of music needs as long and
as arduous a training to become a performer as a medical student needs to become a doctor. Most
training is concerned with technique, for musicians have to have the muscular proficiency of an
athlete or a ballet dancer. Singers practice breathing every day, as their vocal chords would be
inadequate without controlled muscular support. String players practice moving the fingers of the left
hand up and down, while drawing the bow to and fro with the right arm—two entirely different
movements.
Singers and instruments have to be able to get every note perfectly in tune. Pianists are spared this
particular anxiety, for the notes are already there, waiting for them, and it is the piano tuner’s
responsibility to tune the instrument for them. But they have their own difficulties; the hammers that
hit the string have to be coaxed not to sound like percussion, and each overlapping tone has to sound